Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Cravath, Swaine & Moore has approximately 572 attorneys across 4 offices. Founded in 1819.
3L / Entry-Level · Class of 2027Open
New York
Opens
Open nowDeadline
Rolling
2L Summer 2028 · Class of 2029Opening Soon
New York
Opens
Jan 4, 2027Deadline
Not announced
No 1L summer program on the firm’s page. Today’s 1Ls (Class of 2029) apply for the 2L Summer 2028.
About Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Cravath's associate-development model is one of its most distinctive published features. New associates choose among Corporate, Litigation, Tax, Executive Compensation and Benefits, and Trusts and Estates. The firm says it primarily recruits lawyers at the beginning of their careers, either after law school or following a clerkship.
Within Corporate, Litigation and Tax, associates work with a partner or small group of partners before rotating to another team in the same department. The rotations continue through the associate years. The purpose, as Cravath describes it, is to build experience across a department's work rather than confining a lawyer immediately to a narrow specialty. These are departmental rotations, not a promise that every associate moves between all five departments.
The firm emphasizes direct partner oversight of training and development within this structure. Its published explanation also connects rotations with preparation for partnership and the ability to handle different client problems within a
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practice. The concrete difference for students is the relationship between assignment, supervision and breadth of training within a chosen department.
Rankings
Latest published editions. Each links to its source.
Size and Standing
Pro Bono and Inclusion
Vault Practice Rankings
- Securities Litigation: #1 (opens in a new tab)
- Antitrust: #3 (opens in a new tab)
- General Corporate Practice: #3 (opens in a new tab)
- Banking & Financial Services: #4 (opens in a new tab)
- General Commercial Litigation: #4 (opens in a new tab)
- Tax Law: #4 (opens in a new tab)
- Mergers & Acquisitions: #5 (opens in a new tab)
- Private Equity: #5 (opens in a new tab)
Practice strength by market
Every band below appears on this firm’s Chambers USA 2026 profile, checked September 26, 2026. Where Chambers splits a table into The Elite and Highly Regarded, every Elite firm ranks above every Highly Regarded firm.
Scroll sideways to see recognition.
| Practice | Market | Recognition |
|---|---|---|
Antitrust | Nationwide | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Antitrust | New York | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Capital Markets: Investment Grade Debt: Issuer Counsel | Nationwide | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Capital Markets: Investment Grade Debt: Manager Counsel | Nationwide | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Corporate/M&AThe Elite | Nationwide | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Corporate/M&AThe Elite | New York | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation | New York | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Environment: Mainly Transactional | New York | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Intellectual Property: Patent: Transactional | New York | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Litigation: General CommercialThe Elite | New York | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Litigation: Securities | New York | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Media & Entertainment: Corporate | New York | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Securities: Regulation: Advisory | Nationwide | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Tax | New York | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Tax: Corporate & Finance | Nationwide | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Banking & Finance | Nationwide | Chambers Band2 Reported year: 2026 |
Banking & Finance | New York | Chambers Band2 Reported year: 2026 |
Capital Markets: Equity: Manager Counsel | Nationwide | Chambers Band2 Reported year: 2026 |
Capital Markets: High-Yield Debt | Nationwide | Chambers Band2 Reported year: 2026 |
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation | Nationwide | Chambers Band2 Reported year: 2026 |
Environment: Mainly Transactional | Nationwide | Chambers Band2 Reported year: 2026 |
Litigation: General CommercialThe Elite | Nationwide | Chambers Band2 Reported year: 2026 |
Securities: Litigation | Nationwide | Chambers Band2 Reported year: 2026 |
Capital Markets: Equity: Issuer Counsel | Nationwide | Chambers Band3 Reported year: 2026 |
Intellectual Property: Patent | New York | Chambers Band4 Reported year: 2026 |
Media & Entertainment: Litigation | New York | Chambers Band4 Reported year: 2026 |
Life Sciences | Nationwide | Chambers Band5 Reported year: 2026 |
Bankruptcy/RestructuringHighly Regarded | New York | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Corporate Crime & InvestigationsHighly Regarded | Nationwide | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government InvestigationsHighly Regarded | New York | Chambers Band1 Reported year: 2026 |
30 reported ranking rows
Facts verified by BigLaw Bear, narrative by the firm. Figures carry a source link where we hold one; prose is Cravath, Swaine & Moore’s own.
Firm highlights
Summer program
Program structure
10-week program. Summer associates select a department, are assigned to a partner, and work as part of that team on substantive client matters.
Training
Orientation and department-specific training, supplemented by formal summer training classes and hands-on feedback from the assigned team.
Mentorship
Each summer associate is assigned both a partner who provides work and feedback and an associate mentor.
Program features
- Summer pay
- $225,000+Announced by the firm (Oct 2026)
- Total summer associates
- 143Reporting year not confirmedSource
- Early interviewing
- YesApplications for the 2028 2L Summer Associate Program open January 4, 2027, once a complete first-semester transcript is available. Offers follow quickly after the callback: candidates typically know their status within one to four days.Source
- 1L applications
- Not mentioned by the firmSource
- Assigned practice areas
- No, rotationsRotationSource
- First years hired into a practice
- YesSource
- Recruiting contact
- Margaret T. Segall (Litigation); C. Daniel Haaren (Corporate)Hiring Partners
Practice areas
Summer associates choose the Corporate, Litigation, Tax, Executive Compensation and Benefits or Trusts and Estates Department, and may split the summer between two. Before the summer, Cravath collects "department preferences, assignment preferences including preferred matter types, practice areas, teams and partners" and matches each summer with a partner in the chosen department who assigns work and gives feedback, so the experience "resembles that of a first-year associate."
Inclusion
Cravath's affinity groups are open to all associates and each has partner liaisons. Programming runs from monthly lunches to firmwide Heritage Month celebrations, a winter Joint Affinity Group Soiree, and annual Joint Affinity Group receptions for summer associates and incoming associates. The firm elected its first woman partner in 1971.
Affinity groups
- African American/Black Affinity Group
- Asian/Pacific Islander Affinity Group
- First Generation Affinity Group
- Hispanic/Latinx Affinity Group
- Jewish Affinity Group
- LGBTQ+ Affinity Group
- Middle Eastern/North African Affinity Group
- South Asian Affinity Group
- Veterans Affinity Group
- Women's Initiative
- Working Parents Group
Pro bono
How pro bono work is assigned
Cravath brings the full resources of the firm to every pro bono matter. Associates and summer associates are encouraged to take on pro bono clients and, under a partner's supervision, associates have led cases for domestic violence survivors, hospitalized children and wrongfully convicted inmates. A Pro Bono Committee, a pro bono partner and a head pro bono counsel run the practice.
More about Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Summer associates are paid a weekly salary of $4,327. The 2026 summer class came from 21 law schools and 62 colleges, and 76 percent worked between college and law school. Summers may split with another employer only if the first part of the summer is at Cravath, and not with another New York firm. The firm hires second-year students for the summer class and does not list a 1L program.
Upcoming Events from Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Open an event to review the details and add it to your recruiting plan.
Schools Cravath, Swaine & Moore Hires From
3 schools name Cravath, Swaine & Moore on its own employer or placement pages. These lists are not exhaustive.